Tour de France: Geraint Thomas targeting win out of the breakaway in Pyrenees next week

Geraint Thomas will make another attempt to win a stage out of the breakaway when the Tour de France reaches the Pyrenees next week, having seen his first attempt fall short.

The Team Sky rider formed part of a 17-man escape group on stage 14 and although one of their number, Rafal Majka, went on to take victory, Thomas was unable to avoid being caught by the peloton.

Team Sky are prioritising stage wins for the remainder of the Tour after their general classification hopes crumbled when Chris Froome crashed out and then replacement leader Richie Porte lost almost nine minutes on stage 13.

The race will spend three days in the Pyrenees next Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday, and Thomas is targeting those stages as he attempts to give the British squad some much-needed reason to cheer.

“I want to recuperate a bit over the next few days and then try and do something again in the Pyrenees,” the Welshman said.

Recuperation

“I don’t know if I will have the legs because I’m feeling pretty tired right now, but hopefully I can hide in the wheels tomorrow before three more big days in the mountains."

Thomas’s chances of victory on stage 14 were thwarted when he was forced to put in long turns on the front of the breakaway after the peloton had started eating into their maximum lead of four and a half minutes.  

While Thomas and team-mate Mikel Nieve worked to hold off the chasing pack, the likes of Majka and Joaquim Rodriguez conserved their energy further back in the group and profited when they reached the final climb to Risoul.

“NetApp-Endura started chasing in the peloton and not many of the other guys really wanted to work with us,” he added. “They were all thinking about the finish, but you have got to get there first with a decent amount of time to actually race it out.

“That was a bit frustrating at times, but at the top of the Col d’Izoard we rode on the front to try and keep the advantage. There was no point being out there if we weren’t going try, and unfortunately it didn’t come off.”